We like to write blogs that reflect the season. In this blog, our objective is to find leadership skills from the Spirit of Saint Nicholas.
Upon researching Christmas and Saint Nicholas, we made an unexpected discovery. We had thought that we would find that Santa had his origins in pagan mythology somewhere in the distant past.
Instead, the trail led us back to the fourth century, to an actual Christian pastor, the Bishop of Myra.
Bishop Nicholas was a kind man who cared for the people not only in his congregation but the wider community.
He began to link up those people with an excess of material goods with those who had too little.
But Nicholas did it in a surprising way: he maintained a double-blind. In other words, the giver never knew who received the gift, and the recipient never knew who gave it.
This marvelous arrangement made it possible for people to escape the conditions usually attached to gifts. What a great idea!
Building on this discovery, these are the leadership lessons we draw from our research:
Take great joying in giving without thoughts of receiving
Put your focus on making those around you happy and successful.
Be your authentic self
You must know who you are and who you are not.
Build on the power of your team
Your success depends as much on others than yourself. Build effective leadership skills.
Don’t take yourself too seriously
Always keep yourself in smiles and laughter.
Don’t pout
Remove all negative thoughts.
Always remember who’s naughty and nice
Always help everyone with priority on those who need it the most.
Do things that encourage people to believe in you
You must believe in yourself or no one will. Use all types of leadership skills.
Reward good behavior and performance
No punishment allowed, focus on more carrots for the best results.
Leaders like Saint Nicholas have, throughout history, conquered adversity and struggled to overcome obstacles, to become the great people we know today.
We all can learn from their stories and how they used their leadership abilities to succeed, and in turn, develop our effective leadership strategies to deal with adversity in society.
There are two types of time in our lives: dead time, when people are passive and waiting, and alive time when people are learning and acting and utilizing every second.
Every moment of failure, every moment or situation that we did not deliberately choose or control, presents this choice:
Alive time. Dead time. Which will it be?
Think of what you have been putting off. Issues you declined to deal with. Systemic problems that felt too overwhelming to address.
Dead time is revived when we use it as an opportunity to do what we’ve long needed to do.
Any fool can learn from experience. The trick is to learn from other people’s experience.
Remember, history happens when you least expect it!
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Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More leadership material from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Build an Effective Team by Being a Talent Hound
Success Enablers of Highly Creative Leaders
Secrets to Becoming a Remarkably Mindful Leader
Leadership Characteristics That Improve Influence |